In Buryatia, mobile internet will be blocked until the end of the war against Ukraine

In the Russian region of Buryatia, located approximately 4,500 km from the border with Ukraine, restrictions on mobile internet will remain in effect until the end of the war. This decision is justified by the need to protect strategic facilities and ensure public safety, said Republic President Alexei Tsidenov during a live broadcast on Monday.

 

According to him, the slowdown of 4G mobile traffic is a necessary but temporary measure. The restrictions are expected to be lifted once the network returns to normal operation. This was reported by the publication “People of Lake Baikal.”

Tsidenov recalled the attack by Ukrainian drones on the “Bila” military airfield in the Irkutsk region in June 2025. Tu-22M3 strategic bombers are based there. At that time, as part of Operation “Spiderweb,” Ukrainian special services used small drones launched from trailers near targets at several Russian military airfields.

According to “Runet Monitor,” residents of Buryatia report almost daily outages of mobile internet and the use of so-called “whitelists”—lists of websites to which the authorities grant access during restrictions. In total, mobile network blockages are recorded in 60–70 regions of Russia every day.

At the same time, in Buryatia itself, since the start of the full-scale war, there has not been a single announcement of a drone attack threat, nor have any airports been closed.

Back in May, Tsidenov attributed the mobile internet restrictions in Ulan-Ude to security concerns. At the time, he claimed that during Operation “Spiderweb,” Ukrainian drones were launched from trucks and controlled via mobile networks, and that attempts at similar attacks allegedly continue. At the same time, the head of the republic stated that while life without the internet can sometimes be inconvenient, people used to manage without it.

Buryatia has also launched large-scale production of FPV drones and unmanned systems, including the “Burged” and “Mangas,” which are supplied to the Russian army. In October, Tsidenov reported that more than 5,000 such devices had already been delivered to the troops.

Mobile internet will be shut down for three days in Moscow because of Putin.

A major mobile internet outage had previously occurred in St. Petersburg. The outage coincided with Putin’s arrival in St. Petersburg, where he is scheduled to meet with the ruler of Malaysia, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, and hold working meetings with the governors of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast.

Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that restrictions on mobile internet during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which Putin also attended, were imposed to prevent security threats. These threats are said to originate from Ukraine.